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I remember watching the televised game of Donaldson hitting his first career home run for the 2010 A's against the Jays in Toronto. The TV crews showed where his teammates did the thing where they ignore you after your first home run, then Gabe Gross surprised him with a big bear hug. Other than the homer, Donaldson struggled in his first call up & the A's seemed content to keep Suzuki as their starting catcher and "fleet footed" Landon Powell as back up. I figured Donaldson was AAAA talent & I may have seen what would be his only career longball. I would have never guessed he'd wind up being the team's starting third baseman & a MVP candidate. He finally filled the post-Eric Chavez black hole at third.

Cabrera is at first, Machado and Beltre have both been hurt and the Rays are struggling even if Longoria is not, opening up a window for Donaldson. Not saying he doesn't deserve it because he clearly does.

this must explain why he was not so good in 2010 and 2011... A's were never on base those years.

Speaking of all star voting I'm a bit surprised with the leaders so far. lots of people in 1st place who I assumed to be relative unknowns to most fans, and the people who are well known that are ranked at the top seem to deserve it... though I guess there is little chance of A. Ramirez overtaking captain retirement.

Very intriguing, Danny. For guys with >1000 lifetime PAs, that's the biggest uptick from bases empty/men on to be found in the Play Index. Next is Kevin Youkilis. (We'll let bobm post a list if he's so inclined; he's so much better at it.)

It's doubtful that this will hold up at this level over a full career, but it's impressive nonetheless.

His #'s with the glove last year were excellent, too. He passes the eye-test, as well. He's pretty slick out there. In fact, when he took over from Brandon Inge--an excellent glove--I thought he was even better than Inge. It's too bad he wasted so much time behind the plate.

His #'s with the glove last year were excellent, too. He passes the eye-test, as well. He's pretty slick out there. In fact, when he took over from Brandon Inge--an excellent glove--I thought he was even better than Inge. It's too bad he wasted so much time behind the plate.

Oh, I think he's good. I just don't think he's "Best defensive player in MLB" good.

there is a great GIF somewhere of all the over the rain tarp catches JD has made in the coliseum that would have been well in the seats in most parks. I'm not sure how defensive metrics deal with that. On one hand very few fielders could make those plays, on the other hand most fielders don't get the opportunity. Are there park factors in defensive metrics?

Popups are ignored for the purposes of calculating infield defensive numbers.

See, that's weird; I know Bill James studied it & found no relation between 3b skill & 3b putouts, but Donaldson (and Chavez before him) seems to take away a lot of outs other 3b wouldn't get to.
The Oakland team has had a nice little run of long-term third basemen: Bando, Lansford, Chavez, and now Donaldson. (Wayne Gross was decent, but not in this class)